Angelica Panganiban’s comedic talent neglected in ‘Banana Split’
I don't think any blue-blooded male will object if I declare that Angelica Panganiban will easily make it to the list of the top 10 sexiest actresses in show business. Her movies like "Santa Santita" and "I Love You, Goodbye," steamy pictorials in FHM and Maxim and her many sexy calendars should convince Doubting Thomases. After watching her convincing and hilarious portrayal of a bride harboring a gay make-up artist inside her body in "Here Comes the Bride," I believe she should also get a spot on the list of the top 10 comedians, both male and female. Unlike other comics who make use of their physical imperfections and pie-in-the-face routines to make people laugh, the sexy actress uses her acting ability to elicit laughter.
That's why I don't understand why ABS-CBN is neglecting her goofy side in the late-evening variety show "Banana Split, Extra Scoop." In last Saturday's episode, the show concentrated on Angelica's sex appeal by having her wear skimpy outfits that showed off her shapely legs to good advantage.(Not that there's anything wrong with that.) She did wear an ill-fitting dress in a spoof of Snow White but it was a short number. The comedy was left to the hackneyed antics of Pooh, Melai Cantiveros, Jason Francisco, Jayson Gainza and Korean Ryan Bang.
In the portion called "Hot Issue," Melai interviewed Senator Meriam Webster Defensure-Santiago (guess who they're spoofing?) on her "anti-epal" bill where the predictable punch line was Santiago holding up a giant picture of herself with the words "Senator Santiago supports anti-epal bill" in small print. "Hot Issue" next featured the cast of "BSES" thanking the audience of the USTV awards at the University of Santo Tomas. It was a self-serving segment that was not funny at all.
To add insult to injury, a lot of the show's airtime was devoted to a contest called "Clown in a Million," a search for new comedians. The six finalists, who appeared in last Saturdays' show, did not deserve the long exposure. Each pair was asked to insult each other in rap but all they could come up were predictable cheap shots that concentrated on their physical attributes—bald head, ugly face, tartar-filled teeth. There were some good barbs but on the whole, it was a waste of precious airtime.
The opening dance number was too long although Aira, who I believe is an original member of the Sex Bomb Dancers, performed an impressive pole dance. She executed some really difficult routines that looked dangerous to me. Solo dancers Sunshine and Aiko also did well.
There were some fairly interesting moments such as the musical number on fairy tale characters. At least, the show made an effort to come up with appropriate costumes. Jason Francisco as Prince Charming tried to rouse Sleeping Beauty (Melawi) from her 100-year-snooze, singing "Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty," to the tune of "Wake Up, Little Susie." Sunshine Garcia as Cinderella sang "Rock Around the Clock" with appropriate lyrics when the clock struck twelve, John Prats as Peter Pan belted out "I Believe I Can Fly" (too bad he couldn't carry a tune), Pooh as the Blue Fairy urged Pinocchio to look for a female counterpart in "Humanap ka ng Puppet." Now if the director, Edgar Mortiz, had only eliminated the "Clown in a Million" segment and asked for a script that combined all the fairytale characters in a skit, that would have been really funny.
Edgar was part of the Bad Bananas which included Christopher de Leon, the late Johnny de Leon and the late Jay Ilagan. They had a really funny gag show called "Going Bananas" That's the kind of production Edgar should be doing.
Disclaimer: The views and observations of the author do not represent the position of Yahoo! Southeast Asia on the issue or topic being discussed.
